Steadman was chatting with a friend on her way home from the Metro Toronto Reference Library at Yonge and Bloor Streets when the accident occurred.

Witnesses said the petite dancer was standing at the back of a group of about eight to 10 people, when a Honda Accord travelling west on Gerrard struck a southbound Oldsmobile. The Honda mounted the curb and hit Steadman.

“I heard a screech and a crash and then I was flying,” she said. “I landed by the door. I think I blacked out for two seconds.”

She said she was in shock but knew her injuries weren’t serious.

“She did a cartwheel and just landed,” said Nancy Karpus, a motorist who witnessed the accident and stopped to help Steadman. “She just sat there not moving, but she wasn’t bleeding.”

The driver of the Oldsmobile, 43-year-old Stan Nanu, escaped the accident uninjured.

The police chase began on Bloor Street between Sherbourne and Parliament Streets, as officers from 51 Division attempted to stop a Honda Accord believed to be stolen.

Police followed the car across the Bloor Viaduct and south on Broadview Avenue to Gerrard Street East.

At the intersection, the Honda clipped a male pedestrian, who was not seriously injured.

Police say a man fled on foot from the scene of the accident on Jarvis and Gerrard Streets toward Yonge Street, but was caught minutes later.

Robert Andrew Browett, 29, or Toronto, is charged with theft and possession of a stolen vehicle over $1,000, two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident and failing to stop for police.